Country music night at the Arts Center

Guitarist Drew Tucker and singer Troy Durm, a newcomer to the open mic stage, performs country music selections during the recent performing arts show.Photo by Ron Hackett

Host Robert Foster started the recent performing arts and open mic show at the Arts Center with “Three Wooden Crosses” by Randy Travis.

Next, he played James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” He finished with Paul Thorne’s song about a mood ring entitled, “If It Turns.”

Travis Leimer, who is studying to become an open mic host, performed “Broken Halos”, by Chris Stapleton, “Woman, Amen” by Dierks Bentley and “Savior’s Shadow” by Blake Shelton.

Thunderbyrd Newman celebrated his first anniversary of performing at the show by performing three of his original tunes that included “One Heart”, “China Doll” and “Partner in Crime.”

Elliott from Petersburg borrowed Foster’s guitar to perform “He’s a Cowboy”, by husband and wife duo Joey and Rory Feek. Joey passed away in 2016 from cancer. He followed that with a Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher folk song about the open range entitled, “Don’t Fence Me In.” The audience helped him sing the chorus. He finished his set with “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter”, a 1935 popular song by Fred E. Ahlert and Joe Young.

Guitarist Drew Tucker and singer Troy Durm, a newcomer to the stage, came up to perform “Do You Believe Me Now”, a song written by Tim Johnson, Joe West and Dave Pahanish and recorded by American country music singer Jimmy Wayne. Next, they performed “You Don’t Know About Lonely” by Vern “The Voice” Gosdin. They finished with “Mom” by Garth Brooks.

Arts Center president and co-host Ron Hackett finished the regular round by playing several instrumental jazz standards on guitar. His selections included “How High the Moon” by Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis, “Autumn Leaves” by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma and “All of Me” by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks.

There was time left for an encore round.

“Our tradition is that newcomers get the first encore,” said Hackett as he invited Tucker and Durm back to the stage. They performed “He Stopped Loving Her Today” written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman and recorded by George Jones.

They finished with “The Grand Tour”, another tune that Jones made famous. This tune was written by Norro Wilson, Carmol Taylor and George Richey.

Leimer’s encore included “Real Men Love Jesus”, a country music song written by Lance Miller, Adam Sanders, Brad Warren and Brett Warren and made famous by Michael Ray. He followed that with a Zac Brown hit entitled “Colder Weather.” He finished his encore with “Hallelujah”, a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen.

As the host, Foster closed the show with two more of his favorite cover songs. He started with “Whiskey and You” by Chris Stapleton and ended with “In Color” by Jamie Johnson.

This bi-monthly performing arts show, which is normally held on the first and third Saturdays of each month, is free and open to the public. This show was held on the fourth Saturday because of scheduling conflicts among the hosts.

Each act is allowed 15 minutes for his or her performance. Soloists who would like musical accompaniment for their performance or anyone who would like to participate in an open jam session, please contact Ron and Taylor before the show. Questions about the show are also welcome. Their email address is openmic@flc-artscenter.com.

The Art Center is located at 303 Main Avenue South in Fayetteville. Doors open and sign-ups begin at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, and the show begins at 7 p.m. A limited number of advance sign-ups are available on the website.

For more information, please visit the Art Center website at http://www.flc-artscenter.com/openmic.

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